faitour
English
Alternative forms
- faytor [14th–17th c.]
- fayter [15th–16th c.]
Etymology
From Middle English faitour, from Anglo-Norman faitour (cognate with Old French faitor (“doer, maker”), from Latin factor, factōrem, from facere (“do, make”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈfeɪtə/
Noun
faitour (plural faitours)
- (archaic) A charlatan or imposter, especially one pretending to be ill, or to tell fortunes.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter X, in Le Morte Darthur, book II:
- Allas sayd kynge Lot I am ashamed / for by my defaute ther is many a worshipful man slayne / for and we had ben to gyders there hadde ben none hooste vnder the heuen that had ben abel for to haue matched with vs / This fayter with his prophecye hath mocked me
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938:
- Into new woes vnweeting I was cast, / By this false faytor […].
- 1969, Robert Nye, Tales I Told My Mother:
- Quick, now, little faitour. What do you want to know about Gondal?
-
Old French
Etymology
From Latin factor, from facere (“to do, to make”).
Noun
faitour m (oblique plural faitours, nominative singular faitours, nominative plural faitour)
- a layabout (one who does nothing)
Descendants
- English: faitour
References
- faitour on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub